VOLLEYBALL AT BLUE SPRINGS TOURNAMENT

O’HARA WINS CONSOLATION BRACKET AT BLUE SPRINGS VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT Playing among some of the area’s best volleyball teams, O’Hara emerged champions of the consolation bracket of the Blue Springs Tournament over the weekend. The Lady Celtics, defending Missouri Class 3 State Champions, held their own among the squads from class 4, winning against their final opponent from Raymore-Peculiar. The scores for the consolation championship trophy were 25-19 and a close 27-25 which prevented a need for a third rubber match. Competition began with four pools and O’Hara was entered in the four-team Silver Pool. Not off to a good start, the Celtics lost two games to Cor Jesu 25-13 and 25- 20. They then split with Notre Dame de Sion by losing 25-16 and finally persevering in a very competitive overtime win. The team also split with Raymore-Peculiar by losing 22-25 before taking the next game 25-18. This placed O’Hara in the consolation bracket where the Celtics saw better results. They did not lose another game from here on. O’Hara beat Jefferson City 25-21 and 25-17. They followed this by putting away Blue Valley West 25-19 and 27-25 to qualify for the showdown championship with Raymore-Peculiar from their original pool. The overall winner of the sixteen-team tournament was Lee’s Summit West. Incarnate Word was second followed by Cor Jesu and Note Dame de Sion in that order. Prior to the tournament, the Missouri Volleyball Coaches Association ranked O’Hara #1 in Class 3 volleyball with undefeated Platte County ranked #2.

OHara 14 St James 13

O’HARA’S HOMECOMING GAME IS A REFLECTION OF THE POWDER PUFF GAME On Friday at O’Hara’s Paul Monteil Stadium, as a part of the Homecoming festivities, the junior and senior girls had their annual powder puff game. Both teams scored two touchdowns with Jackie Kruger and Linda Nwachukwu scoring for the seniors and Ashley Cadenhead and Cameron Randle scoring for the juniors. That evening, in the same setting, the O’Hara Celtics and the Saint James Thunder did the same with Donnie Criswell and TJ White scoring for O’Hara and Jim Getto and Ben Reynoldson scoring for Saint James. The Celtics won 14-13 however when Bryce Scovill kicked both extra points for O’Hara and Christian Mata only made one of two for Saint James. O’Hara had the ball first and fumbled on their second play, giving an indication of the woes they would endure throughout the game. Saint James drove the 37 yards for the first scoring of the game. Jim Getto’s 15 yard pass completion to Christian Mata was the key play in the nine downs it took to score. Getto plunged for the final yard and the Thunder was ahead 7-0. But this wasn’t for long. Starting eighty yards from the goal, the Celtics exploded in five plays to knot the score at 7-7. Donnie Criswell had a run of 30 yards and TJ White passed to James Tillman for 9 yards and to Joe Pepple for 42 yards in the drive. Donnie Criswell delivered the ball to the endzone from the 13 yard line for the tying TD. It was to be the only scoring until the second half of play. Both squads had setbacks. The Thunder defense got a deep sack and the Celtics benefited from a deep over-the-shoulder interception by Danny Hernandez who reversed the ball nearly all the way to the original line of scrimmage. O’Hara got as close as the 11 yard line in spite of several bad snaps, and a wide-open pass caught by Joe Pepple in the endzone that was nullified by a five yard procedure penalty at the line of scrimmage. At halftime, three events relating to Homecoming took place. The O’Hara Dance Team performed, and was followed by the introduction of the Homecoming court, queen and king. Patrice Jackson and Andy Park were the Homecoming Queen and Homecoming King. The letterman club then announced the retirement of the jersey #21 which was used by five outstanding running backs from the same family at O’Hara. Honored were alumni Mike Brown ’81, J. R. Brown ’83, Jeff Brown ’87, and Mark Brown ’93. Saint James received the second half kickoff and eventually gave up the ball on a fumble recovered by Jake Robinson. O’Hara also gave up the ball on an interception by Ben Reynoldson who returned the ball all the way to the 17 yard line. Reynoldson took the ball in to score on two runs but the kick for the extra point missed its mark and the Thunder had only a 13-7 advantage. This advantage did not last long. On the second play following the kickoff, TJ White went 59 yards untouched around the right end for the tying touchdown. Bryce Scovill then put O’Hara ahead for the first time in the game with a successful conversion. At the end of the third quarter, Saint James gambled on a fourth down attempt but came up short. A second interception by Reynoldson brought the ball down to the O’Hara 19 yard line. The Celtic defense did not allow their opponents to get any closer the rest of the game. When the clock showed five and a half minutes left in the game, O’Hara got possession and ran off the remainder of the time with a mixture of short gain plays except for an important 18 yard gain from a TJ White pass to Joe Pepple. Donnie Criswell led the O’Hara runners with 88 yards for an average gain of 9.8 yards per carry. Joe Pepple caught four passes for 78 yards. TJ White upped his total yards career passing to 1729 yards for 4th place in O’Hara history. Ryan McNamara presently holds 3rd place with 1749 yards garnered in 1997-1998. Joe Pepple is the O’Hara all-time career pass receiver with 51 receptions asnd Bryce Scovill is the O’Hara all-time career extra point kicker with 104. He hasn’t missed this year in 17 attempts. Next weekend O’Hara will meet Christ Prep in a Saturday afternoon game with a starting time at 1 PM.

SOFTBALL O'HARA WIN TWO MORE

LADY CELTICS CLING TO SECOND PLACE IN WWC WITH TWO WINS The O’Hara softball team maintained their second place standing in the West Central Conference by defeating Clinton and Saint Pius during their Homecoming week. The Lady Celtics had lost their two games to the league leading Tigers from Warrensburg, the most recent was a 13-3 game in which O’Hara’s only runs came by way of Andi Davis’ three-run homer. But the team rebounded with a 12-5 win over the Clinton Cardinals and a 14-4 win over the Saint Pius Warriors. Brittany Gallatin was the winning pitcher in the game with the Cardinals and Melissa Batiz for the game with the Warriors. In the Clinton contest, the Cardinals jumped to a three run lead in the first inning on four hits, but the Celtics matched that with three of their own. The early tie game was broken in the second inning with Patrice Jackson’s three-run homer, and in the third inning six more runs crossed the plate for O’Hara. At Saint Pius, the Celtics went to work right away with three first inning runs. Clean singles by Andi Davis, Lindsey Davis, Caitlin Croker, and Patrice Jackson, along with Kelly Bachkora’s double provided the punch. Three more O’Hara runs materialized in the next inning capped by a triple by Patrice Jackson. Jackson went on to hit two more triples in game, an O’Hara record. Remaining on the O’Hara schedule are games in the Jefferson City Helias Tournament and two West Central Conference games with Smith-Cotton and Saint Pius.

HOMECOMING FOOTBALL GAME

O’HARA EDGES SAINT JAMES 14-13 It came down to a missed extra point attempt and the O’Hara Celtics football team was able to score a Homecoming victory 14-13 Friday night. Each team scored twice and in both cases Saint James scored first and was immediately was answered with an O’Hara TD. In the first quarter, O’Hara fumbled giving Saint James good field position. .Jim Getto plunged for the six points and Christian Mata converted the extra point. The Celtics responded with five lightning plays covering a total of 80 yards. The big yardage came from a TJ White pass to Joe Pepple who fought his way for 42 yards. Don Criswell added a nifty 30 yard run and the actual touchdown was via a 13 yard run by Criswell. Bryce Scovill kicked the first of his two extra points of the evening. O’Hara had difficulties with penalties and bad snaps, some of which resulted in long lost yards through quarterback sacks. There was no scoring in the second period although Joe Pepple had a wide-open pass in the end zone and Aaron Stubblefield had a spectacular deep catch on the five yard line; both plays were negated by 5 yard penalties at the line of scrimmage. At halftime, Andy Park and Patrice Jackson were crowned homecoming king and queen. Also at halftime the jersey #21 was retired. It had been the number of Mike ‘81, JR ‘83, Mark ‘87, and Jeff ‘93 Brown who were outstanding O’Hara players of the past all from the same family. Ben Reynoldson intercepted a TJ White pass in the third quarter at midfield and set up Saint James’ second TD by returning the ball to the 17 yard line. A bit later, he scored on a run from 9 yards away but the extra point kick failed. After receiving the ensuing kickoff, on the Celtics’ second play, TJ White scored on a 59 yard run untouched around right end. Scovill then put O’Hara on top for the first time in the game, and the defense held up the rest of the way. O’Hara was able to keep possession for the final five and a half minutes of the fourth quarter.

HOMECOMING EVENTS 2008

HOMECOMING AT O’HARA HAS BIG APPLE THEME September 22-27 is Homecoming Week at Archbishop O’Hara High School. This year’s theme is The Big Apple and will reflect New York, Liberty, and Broadway. Vicki Swanson, moderator of the Student Council, announced that the queen and king homecoming candidates have been selected as well as the underclassman court members. Candidates for the queen are Linda Nwachukwu, Patrice Jackson, and Paulina Pengelley. The homecoming king will be chosen from Alex Rogers, Larry Liggett, and Andy Park. The underclassmen making up the homecoming court are Brittany Gallatin and Teddy Dujakovich from the junior class, Courtney Peterson and Andre Jordan from the sophomore class, and Katie Hayes and Pat Berney from the freshman class. The five school days each have a different focus. Monday is “Liberty Day”, Tuesday is “Big Apple Day”, Wednesday is “Good Morning America Day”, Thursday is “Broadway Musical Trivia Day”, and Friday is “New York Bagel Day.” On each of these days O’Hara students will participate in various related activities. A schoolwide Mass at 10 AM and the annual powder puff game after classes will be on Friday. The homecoming queen and king will be announced on Friday when the O’Hara football team will play Saint James Academy. The Homecoming Dance is scheduled for Saturday from 8 to 11 PM.

Number 500 for Lori Hanaway

O’HARA DEFEATS SAINT TERESA’S TO WIN THE LEE’S SUMMIT NORTH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT Even though O’Hara won the championship game at the Lee’s Summit North Volleyball Tournament on Saturday by winning over Saint Teresa’s, the newsworthy excitement came in the semifinal game with Notre Dame de Sion. By coming out winners in this contest, O’Hara Head Coach Lori Hanaway won her 500th victory since her coaching career began in 1990. Over the years, her teams have won five Missouri State Championships including last year’s. Four of these were as the O’Hara coach and one was as coach at Saint Teresa’s. In the Tournament, the road wasn’t without some challenges. To survive pool play to compete for the Tourney Championship, each team had to win at least three times. O’Hara came up with a 1-0-2 record which boiled down to four games won and two lost. The Celtics defeated Saint Teresa's Academy by winning 25-19 and 25-21 after losing 23-25 at the Lee's Summit North Brono Volleyball Tournament. Tori Hurtt led the Celtics with 79 kills. Michala Boehm added 56 kills. Lindsey Hanaway dished out 130 assists. Katie Huber and Madeline Rembold led in the passing and defense effort. There were 16 teams entered in the Tournament. O'Hara defeated Oak Park, split with Blue Valley North, and split with Lee's Summit North in pool play. They finished 2nd in their pool. The Celtics defeated Liberty in the quarterfinals and Notre Dame de Sion in the semifinals.

One Version of the Game in Sedalia

CELTICS LOSE BY NINE TO TIGERS In a game of two high-scoring football teams, the Smith-Cotton Tigers outpointed the O'Hara Celtics 38-29 on Friday in Sedalia. O'Hara had two touchdowns scored by Donnie Criswell and Smith-Cotton had two scored by Bryce Johnson. However, the Tigers got three scored by Solomon Watkins, and the Tigers got the game's only field goal. O'Hara's other two touchdowns came from a 95 kickoff return by DJ Jackson and a 7 yard short run by Chuck Preston. O'Hara had first possession and moved the ball from their own 21 yard line to the Tigers' 23 yard line before giving up the ball on downs. On the Tigers' very first play after the long drive, Solomon Watkins discovered a huge hole in the O'Hara defense and scampered 82 yards for the home team's first six points. Immediately the Celtics got the score tied as DJ Jackson took the kickoff on the five yard line and went all the way for a score. Breaking the tie just before the end of the first quarter, the Tigers pushed across another TD for a 14-7 advantage, and midway throught the second quarter added on another to up the score to 21-7. With four and a half minutes remaining before the half, the Celtics showed why they were regarded as a strong offensive team. Starting at their own 12 yard line they went across the field in seven plays which included a 19 yard pass from TJ White to Joe Pepple, a 19 yard run by James Tillman, an 18 yard gain by Donnie Criswell, and a 13 yard pass from White to Danny Hernandez. After scoring the touchdown, the Celtics surprised the crowd with a two-point conversion. Raphael Spencer scored the points on a pass from Joe Pepple. With two seconds on the clock, after the Celtics kept the Tigers out of the endzone, Jessica Greer kicked a 22 yard field goal to make the halfway mark 24-15. The Tigers played ball-control the entire third quarter but scored only seven points during that time. O'Hara was held to a total of only four plays from scrimmage. The Tigers did score once in the fourth quarter but the Celtics had two TD's of their own. The first one was set up by two White-to-Pepple passes for 13 and 37 yards and the second one was set up by a long pass completion from TJ White to Joe Melchoir covering 32 yards. For both of these touchdowns, O'Hara went for the two-point conversions. They were successful in their first attempt as TJ White passed to Joe Pepple, but in their second attempt, TJ White tried to run it in but was held short.

A LOSS IN SEDALIA

O'HARA COMES UP SHORT IN SEDALIA The O'Hara football team rallied for fourteen fourth quarter points against Smith-Cotton on Friday but ended up nine points behind as they dropped a 38-29 decision. In the middle of the first quarter, both teams scored within a half minute of each other as Solomon Watkins broke loose for an 82 yard TD run for the Tigers and DJ Jackson returned the ensuing kickoff for 90 yards. Before the quarter ended, however, Watkins scored again for the Sedalia team on a two yard plunge. In the second quarter, Watkins scored again on a 13 yard run to up the score to 21-7. This was followed by a sustained drive by the Celtics and a touchdown with James Tillman going in from two yards out. The O'Hara team then added a two-point conversion; Joe Pepple passed to Raphael Spencer for the points. Just as the first half was coming to an end, Jessica Greer added a field goal when the O'Hara stopped the Tigers near thye goal line. The halftime score stood at 24-15. The Tigers were the only team to score in the third period. Quarterback Bryce Johnson ran the ball in from twelve yards away. O'Hara's first score in the fourth quarter was set up by a long 37 yard pass play to Joe Pepple with Chuck Preston scoring from six yards out. Again the Celtics went for a two point conversion. This time TJ White passed to Joe Pepple for the points. With just 8 points separating the two teams, the Tigers got an insurance score with Bryce Johnson scoring on a two yard play. O'Hara wasn't finished for the night though, and Joe Melchior gathered in a 32 yard pass to set up a short run by Donnie Criswell. This time O'Hara's two point conversion, a run by TJ White, came up short.

Cross County at Platte County

Congratulations to Max Storms in winning the Platte County cross country meet on Thursdayday. The team did not have a full five-member team and did not receive a school score. The other top four varsity runners were: Andy Meyer, Jerry Rellihan and Kyle Van Hecke. For the girls, they had one medalist also Katelyn Gutteridge in the JV race. She placed 23rd. The girls varsity was led by Aliyah Jones, followed by Chelsea Rose, McKenzie Shelton And Kristina Snyder.

VOLLEYBALL TEAM IN THE RANKINGS

9/15 GKCVCA Metro Top Ten 1 Blue Springs 2 Lee's Summit West 3 Archbishop O'Hara 4 St. James Academy 5 Bishop Miege 6 St. Thomas Aquinas 7 Blue Valley West 8 St. Teresa's Academy 9 Olathe South 10 Olathe East 9/15 MHSVCA Class Rankings CLASS 3: 1. Archbishop O'Hara 2. Reeds Spring 3. Platte County 4. Logan-Rogersville 5. Boonville

SOFTBALL (4 games)

O’HARA SOFTBALL TEAM WIN TWO AND LOSE TWO The O’Hara softball team last week dropped two one-run games and won two contests handily. Grain Valley edged the Celtics 5-4 but on the following day, O’Hara was a 7-3 winner over Saint Teresa. Then came a 4-3 Conference loss to Warrensburg which in turn was followed by an 11-0 victory over Raytown South. O’Hara began the Grain Valley game with two first inning runs generated via hits by Jessie Smith, Andi Davis, and Alex Paulakovich. Grain Valley tied up the game in their half of the inning. In the fifth inning, Grain Valley scored three times behind five hits, two of which were doubles. The Celtics tried to catch up in the last inning but came up one run short. Their two tallies materialized behind singles by Jessie Smith, Patrice Jackson, Kellie Bachkora, and Alex Paulkovich. Pitcher Brittany Gallatin held Saint Teresa to three runs scored in the latter part of their game. Doubles by Jessie Smith and Lindsey Davis along with a single by Caitlin Croker brought in three third inning runs for the Celtics. Two more runs came in during the next inning in which two errors occurred. Finally O’Hara pushed across their last two runs of the game aided by hits by Jesse Smith and Caitlin Croker. In the close contest with Warrensburg, Melissa Batiz yielded a first inning run and three more in the third inning. She retired eleven of the last twelve batters, but her teammates only produced three runs. In the one-sided game with Raytown South, O’Hara scored in each of the first four innings and the game ended with the mercy rule. Patrice Jackson smacked two homeruns, a two-run shot in the first inning and a three-run shot in the third inning. In O’Hara’s last at bats, she had two additional RBI’s on a bases loaded double. Brittany Gallatin held the Cardinals to three hits and did not allow a runner to reach third base.

And the soocer team tastes victory

QUIRK AND HOGAN LEAD CELTIC SOCCER TEAM Kyle Quirk got his first shutout and Kevin Hogan led the scoring of the Celtics' soccer team with three goals as the O'Hara downed Holden 6-0 on September 16. The remaining three points were kicked by Trevor Gudde, Bryce Scovill, and Matt Shelton. The following day, O'Hara beat Clinton 4-2. In this game, Kevin and Patrick Hogan each kicked two goals.

Softball team adds two wins

Having completed the Raytown South Softball Tournament in second place with a 3-2 showing, the O'Hara softball team went on to win two games to bring their early season record to 5-2. Grain Valley won the tournament going 5-0. The Cetics won a close game with the Harrisonville Wildcats 5-4 and followed that game with an 8-2 decision over the Clinton Cardinals. On the quite cold day that O'Hara hosted Harrisonville, Patrice Jackson delivered the winning RBI with a last inning double to bring in the deciding run scoring Lindsey Davis who had singled. Davis had already scored two of O'Hara's runs back in the 4th and 5th innings. Harrisonville had been able to pull ahead for a 3-0 lead by scoring on a triple and single in the 3rd inning and added two more runs on three singles in the 4th inning. O'Hara tied the scored in their half of the inning. The three run production came about with just one hit, a single by Patrice Jackson that knocked in two runs. A hit batsman, an error, and two fielder's choices contributed to the scoring as nine batters came to the plate. In he 5th O'Hara took a one-run lead and in the 6th, Harrisonville tied up the score. Freshman Andi Davis singled and Patrice Jackson doubled for the O'Hara run. Brittany Gallatin pitched the entire game and got the win. At Clinton, pitcher Melissa Batiz was given a four run cushion in the first inning. Jesse Smith and Lindsey Davis singled ahead of a triple by Patrice Jackson for the first two runs. The other two runs materialized from a single by Alex Paulakovich and a double by freshman Kellie Bachkora. O'Hara added four more runs in the top of the 7th with key hits by Andi Davis, Lindsey Davis, and Patrice Jackson. Clinton was able to put two runs on the scoreboard in the 6th inning on a triple and two singles.

RAIN COULD NOT STOP O'HARA FROM BEATING WARRENSBURG 31-13

After a fifteen minute delay because of tornado warnings and during a downpour of rain, the O'Hara Celtics were able to sudue the Warrensburg Tigers 31-13 on Friday night. O'Hara scored on their first drive which was set up by a Tiger fumble on the 39 yard line. Passes from TJ White to Joe Pepple and James Tillman brought the ball close to the goal line where James Tillman ran the ball across for the points. Before the quarter was over, the Tigers tied the score following a blocked punt. O'Hara took the lead for good within two minutes of halftime. A sustained drive from the O'Hara 26 yard line accomplished the feat. Two completed passes to Danny Hernandez, and runs each over ten yards in length by James Tillman, TJ White, and Raphael Spencer brought the ball down to the two yard line. Tillman scored on a short run. Although the rain let up during the third quarter, neither team saw paydirt. However, on the Celtics first possession in the fourth quarter James Tillman went around right end for a 39 yard scoring run. Chuck Preston recovered a Tiger fumble on the next series, and the Celtics pushed across their last TD of the evening. When the ball was advanced to the one yard line Preston was given the call to score the six points. Warrensburg got a touchdown late in the game on a screen play covering 46 yards. Chase Ludlam passed to Layton Moore who did the rest. Moore who was successful on his earlier extra point attempt kicked wide on this occasion. Although that was enough scoring for a wet evening for O'Hara, Bryce Scovill, who kicked all four extra points, converted on a 30 yard field goal for the Celtics' final three points.

Volleyball Team Win Two WCC Contests

O'HARA VOLLEYBALL TEAM ADDS TWO MORE CONFERENCE WINS The defending State volleyball champs from O'Hara added wins to this year's record as they downed West Central Conference teams in two home games this past week. First to fall was Smith-Cotton 25-5 & 25-14 and then Saint Pius was beaten 25-13 & 25-18. In the Celtics' first game with the Sedalia squad, they ran up eight points before the Tigers finally scored a point. In the second game, the two teams tied at 6-6 before O'Hara broke away to win. Saint Pius played a little tougher and actually led by a point or two until the teams were knotted at 7-7. Then O'Hara pulled away and at one stretch scored six unanswered points. In their second game the only time the Warriors held any lead was at 2-1 early in the contest and 8-7 when they experienced a minor rally. The Celtic Varsity volleyball team moved to 4-0 with the victory over Saint Pius. Using a balanced offensive attack, many Celtics contributed: Tori Hurtt had 13 kills, Michala Boehm added 11, Janell Jordan was 4 for 5 in kill efficiency, and Lindsey Hanaway recorded 26 assists. Finally, Libero Katie Huber led the team in passing and digs.

How About That Celtic Softball Team

Patrice Jackson drove in four runs including a walk-off RBI double to lead the softball Celtics to a 5-4 victory over Harrisonville and Andi Davis and Brittany Gallatin each contributed two hits to the victory. It was a cold September day

O'HARA 21 OAK GROVE 28

O’HARA LOSES A CLOSE GAME TO OAK GROVE Jumping ahead of the Oak Grove Panthers 14-0 in the first quarter, the O’Hara Celtics were eventually edged out by a 28-21 score by the end of the hard fought football contest on Friday. In just three plays, O’Hara took the early lead. After Danny Hernandez returned the opening kick to the 34 yard line, TJ White completed a 14 yard pass to Joe Pepple, and two plays later completed a touchdown throw to Danny Hernandez covering 54 yards. Oak Grove was unable to get beyond midfield with their possession, and the Celtics mounted another scoring drive. This one took eleven plays. Starting from their own 21 yard line, the Celtics moved downfield, aided by a pass-interference penalty and two pass plays to Danny Hernandez and Joe Pepple to set up the touchdown pass. TJ White hit Joe Pepple with a 37 yard strike to build up the O’Hara lead. Oak Grove scored their first TD at the beginning of the second quarter. Somehow the team was given five downs along the way to the eventual score. From the 13 yard line, the Panthers gained two yards on a short pass, was held for no yards on a running play, picked up seven yards on another running play, was again halted for no gain, and on the fifth play in the series, broke for a 7 yard gain and maintained possession. The TD came a bit later from a 3 yard run by Trey Rigby. With under three minutes before the half, on a fouth down play, Caleb Barnhill was able to get a long TD pass to Landon Grego covering 25 yards and tying up the game at 14-14. With time running out for the first half, the Panthers were able to slip in yet another score with Trey Rigby carrying the ball unto the endzone with just 30 seconds remaining, and Oak Grove had the lead for the first time 21-14. Oak Grove decided to go for a first down on fourth down midway through the third period but the O’Hara defense stopped them. The Celtics then tied up the game with just three spectacular plays. It began with a 38 yard completion from TJ White to Joe Pepple. This was followed by an hook-and-ladder play: TJ White completed a short pass to Joe Pepple who quickly made a lateral pass to James Tillman. It resulted in getting the ball to the 17 yard line. On the very next play, James Tillman weaved through the Oak Grove defense for the tying score. Except for the deciding touchdown play, both teams matched sputtering offenses and strong defenses for the rest of the third quarter and throughout the fourth quarter. Bryce Scovill kicked O’Hara’s three extra points bringing his career all-time school record to a 106 total since he began providing this service to the team. TJ White completed ten passes in the game, two for touchdowns. Four of these were to Joe Pepple who took over first place in the career all-time school record for receiving passes. He now has 44 receptions, one higher than the previous record holder Tokie Aromona. On defense O’Hara’s leading tacklers in this game were Louis Golden, Chuck Preston, James Tillman, and Joe Pepple. Chuck Preston and DJ Jackson recovered fumbles. O’Hara hosts Warrensburg on Friday before going on the road. This is a West Central Conference opponent.

Cross County Schedule

Here’s the latest schedule for Cross-Country. The meet on the 09/11 will only be attended by the Girl’s (V/JV) and boys (JV). The meet on the 09/13 (Forest Park) is only boy’s Varsity. The meet on the 09/27 is still undetermined. Date Meet V/JV Time Home/Away Notes 9/6/2008 St. Mary's Invitational Varsity/JV Away William Jewell 9/11/2008 Oak Grove Girls Varsity/JVBoys JV 4:00 PM Away No Boy's V 9/13/2008 Forest Park Boys Varsity Away St. LouisBig meet tons of good runners 9/18/2008 Platte County High School JV/Varsity 4:00 PM Away Battle of best in the North Liberty/OP/Kearney/etcPossibly toughest course of the year 9/23/2008 Smithville High School Varsity/JV 4:00 PM Away Smithville Lake 9/27/2008 ? Varsity/JV Away Possibly St. Joe 10/4/2008 KC Metro Meet Varsity Away Best of KC Metro RunnersBig Meet 10/11/2008 Helias Invitational Varsity/JV 10:00 AM Away Good talent Jefferson CityBig Meet 10/18/2008 St. Mary's Fall Classic Varsity/JV Away William Jewell 10/21/2008 WCC Championships Varsity/JV Away Sedelia 11/1/2008 Districts Varsity Home Swope Park State Preview w/Korlev 11/8/2008 State CompetitionClass 3A Varsity Away Jefferson City

Cross Country at Saint Marys Invitational

Max Storms finished first by a large margin in O'Hara's cross county meet at the Saint Mary's Invitational on Saturday, September 6th. The O'Hara team score was 175. In addition to Storm's first place finish, two others medaled (among the top 25 finishers). Andy Meyer was 18th and Jerry Rellihan was 21st. Trevor Gudde and Kyle Van Hecke rounded out the varsity scoring. The other teams besides Saint Mary's and O'Hara were Saint Paul, Kearney, Oak Grove, Marshall, Lone Jack, Saint Pius, Lawson, Excelsior Springs, Northtown, West Platte, and Holden.

Celtics Fall Short to Oak Grove

OAK GROVE OUTLASTS O'HARA 28-21 It took a 30 yard pass from Caleb Barnill to Jacob Horn to break a 21-21 tie near the end of the third quarter, but the Oak Grove Panthers were able to hold on to give the O'Hara Celtics their first defeat of the 2008 season 28-21. O'Hara began the game strong. The Celtics scored 14 points in the first quarter while holding the Panthers scoreless. TJ White completed two long passes for the early scores. One was a 54 yard pass play to Danny Hernandez and the other a 37 yarder to Joe Pepple. However, the second quarter belonged to the Panthers. Utilizing the running ablity of Trey Rigby and gambling on fourth down completions, the team scored three times before the half. Rigby scored Oak Grove's first TD on a three yard run (after it appeared the Celtics stopped them twice and appeared to have five downs instead of four in one of the series of downs). He also scored on a seven yard run when the game was just 37 seconds away from the half The other score in the quarter was a 26 yard fourth down pass from Caleb Barnill to Landon Grego halfway through the period. The Celtics tied up the score in a flashy manner in the third quartrer. Three remarkable plays contributed to this scoring. TJ White passed for 38 yards to Joe Pepple. Then the Celtics succeeded with the hook-and-ladder play for an additional piece of yardage in which TJ White passed to Joe Pepple who immediately lateralled to James Tillman. The actual scoring occurred with a nifty broken-field run for 17 yards by James Tillman. Bryce Scovill added on O'Hara's three exrta points.